While the drawings that appeared in "Welcome Aboard the Disneyland Railroad" are quite accurate, these are the real deal.
I know there are lots of blueprints out there, but for some reason, they're virtually inaccessible on the Net. Lots of people who own them seem intent on keeping them to themselves. Or, people try to sell them for big bucks on ebay. We're not like that here.
The drawings are pretty self-explanatory. As you will notice, some of them don't represent the cars as they were actually built.
Our first drawing is the one that came up in our discussion of the Combine on the DRR Forum. Here's a concept drawing that you may find interesting. Note the unusual second side door. It was drawn by Eddie Sargeant on February 16, 1955, and is titled, "Combined passenger mail and baggage car layout." The only dimension legible is the car's length, noted as "38'-1" over coupler pulling faces."
The second drawing is of the caboose. Not much unusual here. This was also drawn by Eddie Sargeant on April 15, 1955. Length over coupler faces appears to be 27'-3". There are several other dimensions noted--if you want them, just let me know.
And here's our first update, after just a few minutes! Presented here is everyone's favorite observation car, the Grand Canyon in it's original form, with some interesting details, such as the clerestory windows and step cut-outs that mirror the arched main windows. This drawing was again done by Sargeant in 1955, titled simply "Observation car layout."
And here's a closeup of one of the more interesting details, cropped by Mr. Burns himself:
And here's a closeup of one of the trucks:
Next we have a drawing of one of the Retlaw coaches. This one is cool because it shows the interior bracing. You can also see how the roof ends dip down--this is not how they were built. See the drawings of the Grand Canyon or Combine for comparison.
Coach end elevation. Again, the roof was not constructed as you see it; as-built, it was closer to the Excusion end, as seen below:
Here's something interesting: A proposed side door caboose!
One of the Excursion cars. Again, nothing too shocking here. The drawing looks very much like it was actually built. Drawn on 10/4/1957 by a draftsman named "Mosely."
Excursion end layout and bench diagram, drawn by Schrader, 10/1/1957:
Seat close-up:
OK, here we have one of the cattle cars, as modified by removing slats and installing side-facing seats. Shrewd observers will note that the sliding "door" on the back, or left-side wall, didn't have any diagonal or vertical bracing, as shown! Drawings by Mosely, May 13, 1958. No dimensions.
And a view from the end, showing that there is a step-up, at least on these cars:
This post will be continually modified, so if will be fluid. I'll try to note when updates are made. Steve and I hope you enjoy these rare looks at the design of the Disneyland Railroad.
